A retired couple's adventures of building a custom home

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Not now, I’m busy!

The more we do, the more we can do; the busier we are, the more leisure we have. ~Dag Hammarskjold

Apparently, the above quote fit for Bill and I during 2010. Even though we were really busy during 2010, we ended up taking several trips during the year, too. (And, I took a couple more than Bill.) 🙂

Okay, back to what made us busy . . . Remember in my last post that I was spending a couple of weeks staying down with Jim and Jill? Enjoying the summer off from work and swimming in that big swimming pool when I wanted and making movies/DVDs with the grandkids. Awww, it was nice. Unfortunately for Bill, he was stuck back at home working and it was a very hot summer. One day he called me and said that the AC had gone out at home. This was the project that was not pleasant (at least for Bill). In between working, he called and had repair people come out. Poor Bill. Bill likes hotter weather. So, when he said that it was so hot and humid and he had a hard time sleeping, I knew it was bad. I had no desire of coming back home and experiencing that with him.

Long story short, we not only had to replace the AC, we replaced the whole heating and AC system! Turned out our furnace had enough rust to call for having it replaced, too. It was not a cheap fix, either. We ended up going with a high-efficiency system because there was a $1500 federal tax credit and we also got in on a tail-end refund from the state. And, this was right before we were going on our family vacation to the beach. What are you gonna do? It had to be done. We hoped that would be a good selling point for the house when it went on the market. Needless to say, we had no idea that was just the first of costly home repairs to come. Remember this for future posts.

Taking a break from all the house-building (Jill and Jim) and house-repair (us) and every day busyness of work and family (Bryan and Vicki), in late July, we headed to our favorite way to spend fun family time together – a trip to the beaches of North Carolina. Spending family vacations at North Carolina beaches was a tradition we brought back from many years ago when we use to vacation with my sisters and their families when our kids were growing up. Bill and I wanted to spend time together with our children and their spouses and grandchildren. So, we started having family vacations at the beach every other year. 2010 was our last family vacation. I miss spending time with everyone under one roof. This was a great vacation for all of us. In addition, I really liked the upper floor layout of the house (open floor plan and separate master bathrooms and closets) and thought maybe we could incorporate some of the home’s features in our new house.

open floor plan

Upper floor layout

Living Room with vaulted ceiling

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Back to busyness . . . A very good project that was happening at our house was Bill totally re-doing our kitchen cabinets. They needed it. And, he thought it would be a great idea to start with re-facing our present home cabinets before making cabinets for the new house. Plus, it was a good thing because our future house plans had changed so many times. All in God’s time is what I say. I prayed a lot during this project. I prayed for patience. Bill likes to deny it, but it took almost a whole year for him to finish the cabinets (and, another year to get the trim up!). However, he did a fantastic job! For a man who had only tinkered with woodworking and wood-turning as a hobby, he soon used his engineer skills to make some nice looking cabinets. He even built the large pantry cabinet from scratch. Here are some before and after shots:

Before Kitchen Right Side

After Kitchen Right Side

Before Kitchen Left Side

After Kitchen Left Side

New slide outs

Top of new cabinet

Bottom of new cabinet

Spice racks inside doors

Bill and I also invested some money into a utility vehicle for our new place. Or, at least, that’s what we said. We sure have had a lot of fun with the Gator here, too!

Bill’s favorite vehicle

Even has a dumpster!

It’s so much fun to drive!

Late summer we made another trip down to see the progress on Jill & Jim’s house and to cut grass. Windows and doors had been installed and the roof was on. In addition, Jill & Jim did something unique before the dry wall went up. They invited their bible study group to come out to the house and write scripture on studs throughout the house. It was their way of blessing the house. I loved this idea.

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Fall of 2010 brought two more trips for me and departure from thinking about my upcoming retirement and trying to settle on a house plan for us. The first trip was my annual sisters’ weekend (WOW Weekend) with my six sisters during the beginning of October. That year we went to Cadiz, Kentucky, and rented a wonderful house on a lake and had a great time (as usual).

Sisters Weekend!

The second trip was at the end of October when I went with my close friends down to what has become an annual fall break at Walt Disney World.

My Friends!

I love being with my sisters and I love being with my friends. We laugh a lot. It’s good for the heart. It’s good for the soul. It’s just not good for the waist line cause we all like to eat during these trips!

If that wasn’t enough trips in one year, Bill and I traveled to California in December to celebrate his aunt Edie’s 90th birthday. Not sure if I’ll make it to 90, but if so, I want to be as spry as Aunt Edie!